Birthday Time! - Sunday

Everyone should have 3 days of birthday celebrating don't ya think?!? Sorry These are posted a bit backwards.

The Cake! Be impressed! No really please be impressed, I worked really hard on it and spent more money on supplies than it probably would have cost to buy. ;)

This little tent is from grandma and grandpa Potter and uncle vroom vroom. Cool huh?
Now there's a great shot.
Oh look, Grandpa fits too!
Oh and so does Uncle Vroom Vroom. . . . sort of.
Here's some birthday cake goodness for you.

Birthday Time! - Saturday

We decided to do presents on Saturday since Daddy would be here. His first present he got at the breakfast table. I told him Steve sent it to him. Anyone a fan of Blue's Clues knows that this is that Handy Dandy Notebook! Yes I made it myself cute huh?

I told him Blue left clues around the house to help Jaden figure out what where we were going to go for his birthday. The video camera died or we would have had this for ya. Anyway the clues were on a bear, some bars, and an elephant. Sit down in your thinking chair and see if you can figure it out. . . . . . . . that's right we're goin' to the zoo!

After our super game of Blue's Clues Jaden got to open his other presents from us. A new Cars coloring book.
Some more advanced puzzles.
He also got a jacket, and a cool tractor from Brooklyn. But he was most excited about his Thomas the Train set! Oh Bella was too, and oh so happy to help.
Jaden showed Bella how to put the tracks together but Bella was much more interested in taking them apart.
So we moved the operation into the hallway.
and Bella watched from the sidelines.
Then it was time to go to the zoo! We met up with Grandma & Grandpa Yancey (they gave him his present then. It was a fun bug shaped magnadoodle. Kept him well entertained on the car ride to the zoo. Jaden's cousins Ben, Ahna, & Joe also came to the zoo, making everything much more exciting.

Like these penguins who were oh so happy to waddle over to wish Jaden a happy birthday.
There's my happy birthday boy and his super fun cousins!
That's a funny pig.
Jaden had no fear of the giant chicken!
the goat however made him a bit nervous.
Bella had no fear of the goats and wanted to touch them. My hand is there strictly for the safety of both parties.
Aww, Jaden could spend all day watching these ducks . . . or 3 minutes, same difference to a 3 yr. old.
Here's the whole clan, well except Grandpa. Someone had to take the picture.
These pretty peacocks were just roaming around.
Look at all those cute chickies.
The lions looked decidedly bored.
This tiger however got much more excitement.
We had a fabulous time at the zoo. Thanks everyone for coming & grandpa for some of those pictures since the battery on my camera died.

Here's a long video of Jaden's present unwrapping. Feel free to skim through. ;)

Birthday Time! - Friday

Jaden turned three years old on Firday the 17th. Ryan had spent the whole week at a class in Utah and wouldn't be home till that night, but I thought perhaps I could still give him a special day.

We started with his birthday photo shoot. Complete with lots of balloons!

I can't get a natural smile out of this kid anymore.
We tried so hard to get that 3 finger thing down. By the time he got it he was sick of the whole thing.
Please Jaden, one more time with a smile and you can have a candy.
Yup that worked!

I made him this fun birthday badge to wear around so everyone would know it was his birthday!
I dropped Bella off at Grandma Yancey's and Jaden and I went on a lunch date to McDonalds. Best part was this cool skateboard he got in his happy meal.
It was much more interesting than the actual food.
Then we played together at the park.
Then I took him to see a real train! There's an old caboose sitting in a park downtown.
With fun wheels to turn.
Jaden was very concerned though. The yellow train fell off the track! It was stuck!

see it was suppose to be over there on those train tracks!

We came home to the exciting surprise of Daddy! Jaden was very happy to see him and look Daddy even had a surprise for me! Aren't they lovely?

Say What?

8/27/10

Jaden's cousins came after school to steal him away (with their mom) I got my workout in after all! Plus he gets to play with two of his favorite people. I know he's having a blast! Now if only my clingy baby would let me sew. . .

9/3/10

Was playing Duck Duck Goose with Jaden and Bella today. Jaden insists that it it Duck Duck Rooster. *shrug* works for me!

9/7/10

Had so much fun at the fair with my mom and the kiddos! Oh and I got a 3rd place ribbon for my scrap page! :)

9/9/10

Bella stood up without holding onto anything. When she realized what she was doing she quickly

sat down again and pretended she didn't do a thing but SO saw her! :)

9/9/10

Me: Jaden, don't do that you might hit Bella in the head. Jaden: I'll say sorry. Me: How about

you just don't hurt her in the first place? Jaden: I really want to mommy, I'll go in timeout.

I decided to move Bella and let him play. :)

9/10/10

Me: Jaden, did you know I love you? Jaden: Yes! Me: Really? who told you? Jaden: Grandma did! Me: Oh well Grandma knows those sort of things. Jaden: Yep!

9/12/10

Saw the demolition derby last night! It was AWESOME! weird coincidence, in the seat next to me was one of my dance partners from college! It was great to see Quinn again. It was a good day.

9/16/10

Jaden: "Friday, then daddy come home, then MY BIRTHDAY!"

9/17/10

Jaden: Bella, it's no your birthday it's Jaden's birthday, you don't get a balloon. Just Jaden's balloons for his birthday.

9/18/10

Had a great time with my Birthday boy yesterday. We went for lunch at Mcdonalds where he got a cool skateboard, then to the playground then to see the yellow caboose. I thought he'd like seeing the train but he was very upset that someone took its tracks and now it's stuck!He then got to come home to a great surprise of Daddy being home! Yay!

9/18/10

Had a great time today with Jaden at the Zoo. Grandma & Grandpa Yancey, and Uncle Lyle and Ben, Ahna and Joe came too! Jaden loved having his cousins with him. Everything was SO exciting that way! Cake is coming tomorrow! (everyone needs a 3 day birthday right?)

9/20/10

Yesterday at church Jaden bunched up Bella's blanket and rocked it in his arm singing rock a bye baby. I'm happy to know he is learning a bit of nurturing with all that rough and tumble. :)

9/21/10

Jaden did great at preschool. He's younger than the other kids so he's behind mostly just on his writing skills, his attention span is also shorter, but it's a small class and the teacher said she could work with it. Yay! I asked him if he liked making new friends and he said "Yeah! Really nice kids."

9/21/10

Bella picked up the toy phone and held it behind her head and said "hello hello?" Too cute. Wish

I had my camera handy. I catch it next time!

9/23/10

This morning Jaden said "You superman huh? Daddy"

All daddys are ya know!

Date night at the Fair

I so love date night, and date night at the fair? What could be better!?! I forgot how quickly you can get around the fair when you don't have children in tow. We got our ice cream checked out the hot tubs, trailers, photography & hobbies, candy backed goods & canning, mattresses, cameras, and many other booths and still had lots of time to kill before demolition derby. We even stopped in the kitchen gadget booth and got an ice cream scoop I hope Ryan can't break. (We've been through 3 and a zillion bent spoons). We used the free time to check out the talent on the free stages. On one was the county talent contest. It was full of almost talented people. What I would consider the average all of us, but it was entertaining. After our dinner of yummy teriyaki bowls we went to the other free stage and watched the Junior Miss girl perform and some kids from a talent agency. Though after a few, all little girls sound the same.

We thought the Demolition Derby started at 7 so we were crazy but it didn't till like 8 so we were super early, but we enjoyed our tiger ear and watched as the grandstands slowly filled.

Funny story, as I was people watching I recognized someone from my past and he waved. Ryan and I were surprised he had seen me since we were sitting among tons of people, but soon realized he saw us because he was looking for his seat which was right next to me. What are the odds of that happening? He was my college dance partner Quinn. I had seen him randomly once before at his reception he married my aunt's husband's cousin's daughter. Caught that? Anyhow it was cool seeing him again and we all enjoyed shouting and screaming and clapping and Oooo and owww-ing. during the demolition derby. So fun! And now if you made through all that. . . picture time!

This little compact lost it's rear wheels on its first hit but it kept going and pulled itself around with that front wheel drive ramming till it got I think 2nd or 3rd place in the compacts! It was quite entertaining!
Car 357 is our overall winner. Though you can see in the second video that 50 is still going strong, but stuck on the edge log. All it needed was a bump and it would have probably taken 1st but it was ignored we suspect on purpose. 357 probably knew it could take him. Anyhow it was all fun. A few fires, lots of spewing radiators, plenty of crashing, and no serious injuries this year. I'm one happy fair goer!

Oh, I thought I'd mention one of my favorite things about this date night was that without strollers to push, toddlers to watch, and diaper bags to hold, we actually had our hands available to hold each others. And with plenty of lolligag time we even got to cuddle a bit. It was like it was before we had kids. Amazing discovery! I sure do still love being with that husband of mine!

Fair Fun

Tuesday morning I took the kids to the fair with my mom. It's so nice to go when most people are either in school or work. No crowds, no lines, just a bunch of fair fun!

Everyone loves fair food. When I asked Jaden what he wanted he said a hot dog. So I found him one. Astoundingly, I paid $4 for a hot dog. He doesn't like anything on his hot dogs not even a bun. Is it good?

Oh yeah! $4 hot dog is very tasty! Oh and that car you'll see in many pictures was given to him by grandma. Spoiled boy! :)
Check out the hobbies. Hey that looks familiar! Woot! I got myself a ribbon at the fair!
Jaden liked mooing at the cows, baaing at the sheep and neighing at the horses. Look at this cute little guy. Isn't he cute?
This one even let Jaden pet him. Course then it took a nip at him. Scared Jaden, he didn't want to see any more horses.
They had a fun Kid Zone full of activities for all ages. Here he's holding the bubble wand over the fan that I'm peddling a bike to make blow.
Gotta love a sandbox full of toys!
Bella did too!
Had to check out the the petting zoo! Jaden enjoyed watching the goats...
and running with the goats...
oh yes even petting the goats...
but his favorite was watching this turtle. I don't know what was so fascinating about a slow moving turtle, but he kept going back for a look.
What's the fair without rides? A lot less expensive that's what. :) Jaden picked this fun car ride to go on.

Before we left we got a balloon and some cotton candy. Wouldn't be a fair without them! At home Bella experimented with the balloon. She thought it was pretty neat!
The next day, the balloon was already sunk, but the fun had only just begun!

Thanks for going to the fair with us grandma! We had a blast! I already look forward to going again next year!